After breakfast, we assembled to hear David Ze'ev. David hosts the Israeli version of "Meet the Press" on television and radio, a weekly news analysis show with interviews, guests, etc. David gave us his impressions on the post-election scene in Israel. Whereas his theory before the elections had been "Israel needs to stop apologizing" every time it does something someone doesn't like, e.g. invade Gaza, his thought after election is now " the current Israeli political system has to go." Incremental changes, like direct election of prime minister (rather than voting for a party, which then picks its own leader), have proven ineffective; yet, those who would need to envision transformational change and implement it (member of the Kenesset or parliament) are the people least likely to want to move away from the status quo.
Elections this past Tuesday resulted in a statistical dead heat. Since Tuesday, President Shimon Peres has been interviewing political parties to assess which party has the best chance of putting together a viable coalition government. Today, he announced that the Likud, the conservative party led by Benjamin (Bibi) Netanyahu would have first "crack" at it. Tzipi Livni, the leader of the Kadima centrist party, vowed to stay in the opposition and resist the temptation to join the government. Livni said: "Today the foundation was laid for an extreme right-wing government led by [Likud Chairman Benjamin] Netanyahu. This is not our way, and there is nothing for us in such a government," Kadima leader Tzipi Livni told party members on Thursday, after 65 MKs announced their decision to support Netanyahu for the post of prime minister-designate. (for more information, press here).
Avigdor Lieberman, the controversial head of the Israeli Beitenu party (Israel is our land) pledged his provisional support to Netanyahu. Lieberman, who has said he would require Israeli Arabs (not Palestinians living in Gaza or the West Bank) to take a loyalty oath. The coming days will reveal whether Netanyahu can put together a coalition of at least sixty one members - since the Kenesset has one hundred and twenty members, sixty one comprises a simply majority. As Leiberman warned, any government that exists with only a narrow margin will not survive long.
In a move some have been demanding for some time, the government told Hamas that the border crossings to Gaza will remain closed, and all movement toward a resolution of the current tensions, will remain frozen until the release of Gilad Shalit, an Israel soldier kidnapped by Hamas two and a half years ago. For more information about Gilad Shalit, press here.
For Shlomo Avineri's analysis of the need for electoral reform, press here.
Jerusalem Post correspondent Bradley Burston thinks people voted for the right because only the right can make peace (Like Begin), press here.
We then went to the Old City and walked through the Jewish Quarter. I was surprised to see that the Hurva synagogue, the largest in the Jewish Quarter and destroyed by the Jordanians after 1948, is being rebuilt. Since the Jewish Quarter was taken back by the IDF in 1967, the Hurva was cleaned up but only the shell remained as a memorial.
We continued on to the Western Wall. While some assume the wall had been part of the second temple itself, in truth it was part of the retaining wall King Herod erected to created the temple mount, which was the largest building project the Roman empire had ever embarked on. Over the past decade, excavations along the base of the wall continued in a northerly direction and uncovered what is now an underground tunnel stretching from the plaza in front of the western wall all the way to the far reaches of the Christian Quarter to the north.
For more information about the tunnels, their excavation, and the political uproar that ensued when Muslim religious authorities claimed that Jews were plotting to literally undermine the Dome of the Rock, a very important Islamic shrine, press here. To take a virtual tour of the tunnels and other areas around the Kotel - the wall, press here.
After a pasta lunch, and the slight matter of the bus leaving the restaurant while yours truly was still in the bathroom (sorry, no pictures of the look on my face at the time), we visited a new museum dedicated to the life of Menachem Begin. Israel's first prime minister elected from the conservative party, the Likud (in 1977). Begin was a warrior - some say a terrorist - who led the pre-state "Irgun" militia in such missions as blowing up a wing of the King David Hotel (being used at the time by the British occupiers). Yet, he was also the statesman who invited Anwar Sadat to come to Israel and who himself went to Cairo, in the run up to the signing of the Camp David accords, which brought an end to decades of war between Israel and Egypt. In Israel proper, Begin argued that Jews from Europe (Ashkenazim) and those from Arab countries (edot HaMizrach or oriental communities) should have equal opportunities in political life, business, academia, etc.
For more information about the Begin Center, and, in particular, the battle between the Hagana led by Israel's first prime minister, David ben Gurion, and Menachem Begin's Irgun - a battle that came to a head with the sinking of the Altelena - a ship the Irgun was using to bring in munitions for Irgun fighters in Jerusalem, in contravention of Ben Gurion's orders, press here * or here or here. If you want to watch a video of Yitzhak Rabin relating the sinking of the Altelena - don't pay too much attention to the biased introduction - the second half of the video is worth it. Press here.
For dinner, we went to a restaurant called "Darna" that specializes in Moroccan food. The picture shows some of the delicious salads. The food was of the French influenced cuisine of a certain part of Morocco. When I lived with a Moroccan family in Jerusalem during my junior year of high school, the food was more influenced by Arab culture, reflecting the experience of a different socio-economic stratum in Moroccan society. Below are pictures of two of a group of Milwaukee students currently studying in Israel through the Milwaukee Jewish Federation's sponsorship, including Rachel Dolnick and Mara Alpert.
Three News Items to share:
The first is the weather: today the weather changed from sunny and sixty degrees to a cooler, almost foggy looking day. After a few minutes it became apparent that the frog was really a cloud of dust that probably had come all the way from North Africa. This weather is a precursor for some stormy weather heading our way, rain that will likely hit us tomorrow evening. To read about how dust clouds form, press here. To see a satellite picture of what such a dust cloud looks like, press here.
The second item is abut John Kerry, who is visiting Israel and who spent part of today in Gaza. For details of the visit, press here.
The third news item was by far the most important: last night we ate and celebrated with Yemenite Jews. Today, it was announced in the media that the Jewish Agency had worked in secret to take ten Jewish individuals out of Yemen and bring them to Israel.
Why is this newsworthy? Because while most of Yemenite Jewry came to Israel in the early fifties (Operation Magic Carpet, so named because so many had never been in an airplane before) a remnant has remained in Yemen, totaling today about 140 families. In recent years, the community has become the target of a local Al Qaeda affiliate. The President of Yemen took seriously his task of protecting the Yemenite Jewish community. In fact, in recent months, the Yemeni government decided to consolidate the Jewish community in one town, rather than the two towns where the Jews had lived. Despite these extraordinary efforts, the protection could not be total; in recent weeks there have been a number of attacks with hand grenades, guns, etc. We didn't see mention of it in the western press because Israel was already setting into motion a plan to evacuate the remaining families. However, the news got out about the operation and it remains to be seen what will happen now. Such evacuations in Ethiopia had to be curtailed once news got out; local officials who were happy to look the other way as Jews left (a bribe or two helped) were suddenly outraged when they realized that their complicity was there for all to see.
In the meantime, the news tonight in Israel showed the family with ten relatives arriving to the airport and reciting the shechiyanu prayer - thank you God for giving us life, sustaining us, and enabling us to be here together to share this day. To read more about it, press here.
QUESTIONS TO BE ADDRESSED IN UPCOMING BLOGS (remember, I will be in Israel through March first):
I have been collecting excellent questions sent to me by Milwaukeeans. I hope to begin sharing some insights and answers in the coming weeks. Here is a sample:
· How do Israelis you meet feel about continued building in the Palestinian territories despite Supreme Court decisions? What effect does the activism of Rabbis For Human Rights have on Israeli citizens? Any discussion?
· How do Israelies you meet feel about continued building in the Palestinian territories despite Supreme Court decisions? What effect does the activism of Rabbis For Human Rights have on Israeli citizens? Any discussion?
· David Landau wrote in Ha'aretz today/yesterday that the Israeli-Palestinian situation will reach either a two-state solution or a one-state solution, an Arab state. How widely held is that viewpoint?
· Just read that 20,000 Israelis lost their jobs last month... Some countries are blaming the US. It would be difficult for Israelis to blame the US out loud but perhaps privately? I am sure everyone is asking about the future pm. Do they believe it will be other than a unity government? Is it possible for either to make a coalition? Are they fearing Iran more than Hamas and Hezbollah?
· I am very interested in what has happened to the moderate/left voice in Israel. I don't hear much on our media. So,the man/woman voice on the street is very interesting to me.
· Questions for them (Ros Roucher and Rabbi Phil Nadel)--what are the best things and the most challenging parts of moving to Israel?
· And the questions for the sixth grade class at Sinai:
· How tall is the tallest building?
· What do people eat? (street food, food we don't have, Joey wants to know if the pizza still tastes weird)
· What do houses look like? Apartments?
· What is shopping like?
· Please bring chocolate!
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